Thumper

I take back what I have said about rhythm games in the past.  About the genre, I mean. BIT.TRIP is still a terrible game.  But Thumper … Thumper is not a game you play.  Thumper is a game you feel.  And it feels very, very good.

My complaints against BIT.TRIP were mostly about requiring perfection.  This is not true in Thumper – you have an armor system, short levels, checkpoints, and more – all with no need for a complicated interface (the above is in the middle of a boss fight).  With the armor system, you get one “mistake” per section.  But at the end of each section (and sometimes within), you can regain your armor.  This is good design – prove you can do better, and you are rewarded.  The tutorials are well thought out and integrated into the gameplay.  A sign that you’ve done extremely well is that the controls feel natural – and once you get through the first section or two, they feel fantastic – added to by the perfect timings of audio cues.  My only true complaint is that I couldn’t take good screenshots since there’s never enough time except between sections.

There’s certainly a degree of bias here – they combined my love of fast racing, psychedelic visuals, and drum beats into a truly wonderful game experience.  But if I’m having fun, that was sorta the point – and I simply can’t wait to try it in VR.  Tier One.

Steam link